Cloud architectures are used in cloud computing and cloud storage systems for offering infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud services. Examples of cloud architectures include the VMware vCloud Director® cloud, architecture software, Amazon EC2™ web service, and OpenStack™ open source cloud computing service. IaaS cloud service is a type of cloud service that provides access to physical and/or virtual resources of a virtualization platform in a cloud environment. The virtualization platform can include a large number of host servers each installed with virtualization software that support IaaS constructs, such as virtual machines, logical networks, and the like. At a given time, some host servers support active virtual machines (i.e., virtual machines that are executing), while other host servers do not have any active virtual machines. The host servers, including those without active virtual machines, are powered on most of the time to allow for management of virtualization software and associated virtual machines. Management tasks include configuring the virtualization software, provisioning new virtual machines, configuring existing virtual machines, and the like. Keeping a large number of host servers powered consumes a considerable amount of resources, including power, energy, datacenter (e.g., cooling, network, etc.), and like-type resources.